Rajnath Singh likely to make statement on Dawood 'soon'

New Delhi: Days after the government was left red faced over the location of fugitive terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said there was "no confusion" about his whereabouts and that he would make a statement on it in Parliament soon.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) function, Singh said,"There is no confusion in our mind. We know where he is."

Singh said he wanted to make a statement on the floor of the House. "I will see, I may do it on Monday with the permission of Rajya Sabha Chairman," Singh said.

The government was left embarrassed on Tuesday when Union Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in a written reply that the location of Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted terrorist, was not known to the government and, once he is located, his extradition process will be initiated.

The issue had rocked Parliament yesterday with Congress launching a tirade against the NDA government for the statement which was at variance with the country's consistent stand that Dawood was in Pakistan.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had said the NDA government had tarnished India's image by saying it did not know Dawood's location despite repeating several times that he was in Pakistan.

"Our intelligence agencies, which work the world over, also know about his residence and location...Pakistan government has been asked to hand him over to India so that action could be taken. We expect the same for this government also," Azad said.

Several other members including Ritabrata Banerjee, Tapan Kumar Sen, Sitaram Yechury (all CPI-M) and Pavan Kumar Verma (JD-U) had sought a statement by the Home Minister on the issue.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had clarified yesterday that the underworld don lives in Pakistan and the Centre would continue to pursue the case very seriously.